Pious Odyssey
by Zemus
Summary: Evolia, a secluded continent whose culture is made unique by the Hallowed One, a single eevee chosen each generation charged with the duty of retaining peace in the world. Nine years ago though, he dissapeared. So when Iskander is invited to travel across Evolia and the group runs into the next chosen, the ensuing adventure is one that will change their lives forever.
1. Prologue - Armageddon

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**Re-written 3/27/15**

**Prologue - Armageddon**

In a time, long, long ago, the planet Earth was inhabited by two very different and distinct groups of beings; pokemon and humans. For as long as either race could remember, the two had existed in perfect harmony alongside each other, never having had any sort of long-lasting dispute before. Together, they complimented each other with their own strengths and weaknesses. Where the pokemon were strong, able-bodied, and displayed unusual and unique abilities, the humans were smart, industrious, and always looked for a way to make the world around them a better place. For the most part, the planet was a living paradise. Sightings and rumours of violence between the two races were almost unheard of, and so, after centuries upon centuries of peace and unity, both sides became complacent.

This complacency however, would be their downfall. For as unlikely as it seemed for problems to arise in between pokemon and mankind, it was not an impossibility. For conflict did happen, time and time again, and although it was dealt with, even swiftly at that, unease began to settle in amongst some of the pokemon. It was always the humans who started the problem, for one flaw they had to combat more fiercely amongst themselves that their pokemon allies didn't, was the fatal flaw of greed. Greed drove the rotten few to sour the almost immaculate friendship they had established with the elemental-wielding creatures. Almost everyone was willing to forgive and forget each time, knowing that there would always be the small group who would rise up time and time again to wreak havoc among the populace, and so they knew than to let their viewpoints of those few individuals tarnish their views of the other humans.

Of course, in a perfect world, perhaps all would be forgiven, and everyone would move on without a second thought; but this isn't a perfect world. Even if it seemed so to some, even if some liked to believe, or had fooled themselves into believing it, the world was far from perfect.

No. Far from perfect indeed.

As time came and went, some pokemon began to grow restless. In their eyes, the humans wanted nothing more than to gain complete control over them all. Sure they were stopped each and every time, but surely if they tried enough times, they would succeed eventually? Perhaps the humans were not nearly half as nice as they had all "fooled" themselves into believing. Perhaps it was all a façade into convincing them into letting their guard drop down completely.

They couldn't risk it. The humans had to be stopped. They wanted to take away their freedom. They wanted to take away their rights. They wanted to use them as nothing more than tools. They were only a means to an end. The pokemon had to strike back, and strike back hard. So hard, so swiftly, that the humans would never even get a chance to strike back.

And strike back they didn't.

Through the efforts of a single group of pokemon, they were able to wipe out the entire human race off the face of Earth, wiping out any signs of their civilization in the process. They were free now. Free from the doubts and worries of enslavement. Surely the world was a better place now?

What of the others though? Of course not all of their fellow pokemon shared the same views as them. The group had forgotten to take into account the important fact that they were the minority amongst their race. A tiny, almost non-existent, minority.

Itt was too late now though. Only upon seeing the worldwide spread of mania and havoc that they had caused, did the group realize their mistake. Instead of helping their race from the burden of their insecurities and flaws, they had only caused more to flourish. Any form of bonds and unity, of civilization and organization, had now been abolished, and for many decades to come, the world would be plunged into a state of violent disorder.

Only through the help of the legendaries, was some semblance of civilization able to form. A brand new civilization that was akin to that which existed before, had been created. The only difference this time was that it was made of one race, rather than two, and for a time, it seemed as though things may very well work out. Despite the tragedy and violence, to some it seemed possible that balance could once again be restored. The pain and loneliness of losing their loved ones had slowly begun to heal itself amongst the hearts of those whom had survived, and while the scars remained, the pain eventually subsided to nothing more than a dull ache.

Villages began to sprout across the world as pokemon shifted away from their nomadic lifestyles, instead adopting one to that which the humans used so long ago. Through teamwork and unity, pokemon were able to settle down, and create more stable lifestyles. While it was nothing like which the humans accomplished, it was still something. The world had once again settled into a relatively quiet and stable era of peace and prosperity.

The peace and prosperity was never meant to last however, as strange and unexplainable events began to take place across the land. Natural disasters began to occur with increasing frequency, pokemon had begun to disappear, last seen in certain areas, and even some of the legendaries had begun to lose control of themselves, corrupted by this unseen and malevolent force. With the very balance of the universe upset now that one of its inhabitants had been wiped out, the forces that had kept the world together were beginning to deteriorate. The events that continued to follow as a result, no one would've ever guessed.

In a desperate gamble to try and restore balance to the Earth, and with the help of the remaining legendaries that had not fallen under the influence of the corruption, Arceus plucked several humans from parallel timelines, and brought them to this one, giving them the bodies of pokemon to help shield their identities, hoping that their very presence would help stabilize the planet. For a while, it seemed that his plan had worked, as they even went so far as to help sort out all of the various calamities that were happening. Perhaps now they had finally found a solution to their problem. Many breathed a sigh of relief. Surely this was the answer to their problems all along?

It wasn't the answer they were looking for once again, for one of the humans that Arceus had brought to their timeline went missing without a trace. Panicking and unsure of what to do, he could only hope that there would not be any additional problems that would come with yet another human casualty. In his shame, Arceus failed to take any real action towards tracking down the missing human, hoping only that the mistake wouldn't come back to haunt him.

Of course it came back to haunt him twelve years after the young and heroic charmander's disappearance, and in a much more severe manner than he could've possible imagined. The event in fact took place exactly twelve years after the hero's unexplainable disappearance in the young fire-type's "home town" of Pokemon Square. A charizard wearing a hooded cloak of the deepest midnight black possible, and whose scales were only a slight shade lighter, appeared, and wiped the entire settlement clean off the face of the planet, leaving no sign that it, or even its inhabitants, had ever existed there. The curious thing that was noted though about the whole thing, is that this pokemon had not given a second thought towards wiping out every last living thing in site except for one; a blastoise that only some of the legends recognized due to his involvement in the prevention of the great meteor that had threatened to crash into the planet twelve years prior. The water-type did not perish in the same manner as his friends, but instead was personally mutilated by the charizard, serving as an example to all the other pokemon before they were all killed.

Even though it was clear that this mysterious pokemon had dangerous and destructive motives in mind, none of the legendaries dared. They reasoned that it was not their place to get involved, and that surely some pokemon would be strong and able enough to take him down, maybe even one of the humans. And so, forcing themselves to relax and tend themselves to other matters, they purposefully paid a blind eye to the tumult and turmoil that took place around them, believing that everything would work out in the end. They hid themselves away from the truth of the matter.

The truth that they were scared, and had no idea what to do.

For even if they pretended to ignore the rampaging and ruthless flame pokemon, they could see that he was no ordinary pokemon. His powers were unnatural, their source; unknown. Looking into his mind, there was no mercy nor regard for life that existed within his mind, though there was no need to look. His actions said everything. He enjoyed every bit of what he was doing. He wasn't killing all of these pokemon because he needed to. He did it out of nothing more than wanting a thrill and enjoyment. The fire-type's senseless rampage continued to rage on as Arceus and his helpers continued to do nothing even after thousands upon thousands of lives had been lost. Pokemon from all around the region set out to put an end to the fire-type's blood-thirsty rampage, but no matter how many tried, no matter how strong they were, they were never a match for him.

The legendaries were losing more and more hope of a solution showing itself. Minor action was taken to help reduce the number of casualties that were beginning, but in the long run, hardly accomplished something. Finally, the legendaries stoic pacifism was broken when "The Reaper" as he had come to call himself struck down another key figure; the two heroes of Post Town. The loss of yet two more well known and powerful figures had finally sent them over the edge. In an ultimate display of panic, Arceus began to evacuate the legendaries and humans through opening portals; able to be entered by only humans, across the continent and anywhere else around the world where they existed, spreading the word that they were to all return to their own timelines and places. Not wanting to lose their own lives as well, Arceus opened up a separate set of portals for the legendaries to take to escape to another plane of existence of their own, leaving all everyone else behind to fend for themselves.

* * *

><p>"Nova, what are you doing? The portals are going to close soon! You need to get out of here right now!" shouted an impatient and worried eevee to his human-born friend.<p>

The two had been running as fast as they could, travelling alongside Nova's fellow humans and their various team mates and partners. Nova and the rest had been ordered by the legendaries to return to their own dimensions through specially created portals, much like the ones that had originally been used to bring them here, in an attempt to prevent any further human casualties. There wasn't much time left, as Arceus could only hold them open for so long before they would close forever, leaving anyone who didn't make it behind to face the impending wrath of The Reaper and his minions. Some legendaries were tasked with guarding the way there to ensure that all of the humans made it through safely, but they too had to make their own escape.

Star followed the frozen pikachu's gaze, seeing it locked upon two figures just off to the side of the path. The eevee looked over and watched the scene that had caused his friend to stop in her mad dash for safety, unfold for himself.

Heatran whom had been charged with protecting the portal located near the eastern outskirts of Treasure Town, was satisfied that his job was done and that everyone would make it. Letting himself at last to be pulled towards the portal located up in the sky that would lead him to his own salvation, he was surprised when he felt someone grab onto one of his legs; a distressed and panic-stricken ursaring whom the eevee and Nova recognized as one of the long-time inhabitants of Treasure Town. Neither had seen the hibernator pokemon so distressed in their entire time that they had known the calm and docile normal-type, for the ursaring was now clinging on desperately for dear life to the legendary's foreleg, shouting with all of his might at the great beast he had latched onto.

"You've got to take me with you! Please for the love of all that is good and holy, I beg of you!" the ursaring cried as Heatran desperately tried to shake the crazed pokemon off. "Please! I don't want to die!"

Scowling down at the ursaring, Heatran couldn't help but be disgusted by the mortal's pitious pleas for mercy. "Let go of me, you crazed animal!" he shouted before at last lifting his leg up and flinging the helpless pokemon off of him, hard enough to knock the wind out of the ursaring. "If you don't want to die, then figure out this whole mess yourself! This matter no longer concerns the legendaries; we are done with you all. You are all on your own now," he spoke harshly as he continued his ascent into the clouds, until at last disappearing altogether, leaving the broken form of the ursaring, and speechless pikachu behind.

_So it's true. They really are leaving everyone behind to die. They don't care what happens to them any more_, Nova thought to herself as a cold and haunting shiver of confirmation and finality coursed through her spine. _And they expect us to leave them all behind too. Leave them all behind to die and suffer at the claws of this monster…_

Nova's gaze was still locked on the wheezing and crumpled form of the ursaring still laying in the same position as he landed in when he was flung downwards. If she left, the ursaring wouldn't be the only one who would surely perish. All of her friends, her team mates, everyone whom she now considered family, would die. Everyone would die a meaningless and gruesome death, including Star.

Star! If she went through that portal, she would be leaving Star behind! There was nothing he could do on his own if she left! He would surely perish alongside everyone. The Reaper was too powerful. And even by himself, he was an unstoppable force, but he wasn't alone. He had help now even. What could they do?

What could _she_ do?

Maybe it was better if she went back home, pretended this whole thing never happened. There was nothing she could do if she stayed. Tearing her gaze away from the ursaring, she focused it instead on the direction that lead to the portal and her one chance at getting out of this whole ordeal alive. Perhaps… it was better if she at least tried to save herself. Her death would only be yet another amongst the thousands that had already happened…

Then the news of the Post Town heroes' murders came back and smacked her right in the face, but more importantly than that, the Pokemon Square's hero! That Blastoise! His death wasn't like the others. No, rumours floated around that his had been especially long and drawn out. All because he had worked alongside that charmander that had disappeared fifteen years ago. Rumours of the event and her own imagination began to swirl together, creating an image of The Reaper breaking Star's small and diminuitive frame. Images of him being torn apart, bones being broken, organs being crushed, and the most painful of torture methods used in slowly ending his life in the worst way possible. There wasn't just a chance that The Reaper would make Star's death slow and painful. The Reaper would do it without a doubt. And she was going to leave her best friend behind to face an inevitable and horrendous fate...

"…Nova! We have to go! Now!" Star shouted, his golden eyes flaring with determination as he snapped his friend out of her internal debate. "Heatran is already gone, meaning the portal could close any minute now, so it's time to stop day dreaming, and get you the hell out of here before it's too late!"

The pikachu still gave no signs that she was going to start moving, so with an impatient huff, scared that she might get left behind, Star began to push her down the road with his head.

"I'm not leaving."

Star stopped at once, surprised by the pikachu's sudden words. The eevee paused for a moment to recollect himself, "What do you mean you're not leaving? Of course you are! The portal's still open. Now let's g-"

"I said I'm not leaving, Star!" she shouted this time with much more conviction and force, digging her feet into the dirt and stopping her friend from moving her any more.

Growling at the electric-type, Star couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Have you gone completely insane? You can't stay here, you'll only be throwing your life away!"

"And so would you! But unlike me, you don't have the ability to choose whether or not you want to stay. It's not fair!"

"Of course it's not fair, but what will staying here accomplish?" Star demanded. "You have a chance at saving yourself - take it! Leave this place and live on for our sake!"

"Then what? Spend the rest of it knowing that I ran away like a coward, leaving you all behind to be picked off one-by-one, left behind to face all of this with no hope for survival!" Nova retorted angrily, stomping her foot down on the ground. "I know that if you were in my position, you would stay too!"

"You don't know that, I would leave t-"

"Don't lie to me in my face, Star! If you were honestly about to tell me you would be willing to leave everyone behind to save yourself, then that's the largest pile of trash I've ever heard you say!" Nova had put the eevee at a loss for words, who was now unsure of what to do. He so desperately wanted to save his friend, knowing there was no chance for survival if she stayed. That fire-breathing monstrosity would torture and mutilate her if she didn't leave, just like the rest…

The two were alone now with the exception of the ursaring whom had cried himself into unconsciousness now. Standing in solitude, a grave silence surrounded them as the eevee searched desperately for a way to get his friend through the portal that would surely save her life. A strong gust of wind blew past them, ruffling the fur of both pokemon as they continued to stand there, the direness of the entire situation sinking in more and more.

"He's going to come for you specifically…" Nova whispered suddenly, dread lacing itself amongst her words as she stated the obvious. "He's going to tear you apart in the worst way possible, and I won't even be here to help defend you when he does…"

"M-maybe he won't if you leave. M-maybe if all the humans escape, he'll stop this all and leave us alone," Star replied, still desperately trying to find a way to convince Nova of leaving, but only earned a shake of her head instead.

"No… he won't. If this was only about humans, he would've killed me and everyone else a long time ago. He's only toying around with us, delaying the inevitable. He'll still come for you; I mean look at what happened to that blastoise. The human that he was associated with had disappeared long ago, and he still ripped him to shreds regardless. If I leave, he'll still come for you… At least if I stay, I can say I died trying to do something."

"Nova… please… don't do this," Star pleaded, tears slowly forming in his eyes.

The pikachu merely shook her head again before she pulled the eevee into a strong embrace. The eevee buried his head into the fur on her chest, as he cried tears of both fear and sadness. He felt helpless to stop the one he loved most from throwing her life away in a futile attempt to save him. He felt sadness for those around him as he had watched the world crumble around him ever so slowly, and while he didn't want to admit it, he felt scared because he knew Nova was right. He was scared of the fate that undoubtedly awaited him, and was ashamed that he was scared for his own well being. He was no different than the ursaring, even if he didn't show it on the outside. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared for his own life. He wanted to grab a hold of that heatran, and fly away to that portal up in the sky with Nova. She had been half right about him not leaving everyone behind had he been in Nova's position. He could never bring himself to leave her and everyone else behind to fend for themselves, but if he had the chance of leaving with Nova by his side, he would selfishly take that chance without another thought. She was the only one he truly cared about any more. She was his only shining light left in the world. The only reason he hadn't taken extremes to avoid the cruel ending that awaited him.

He loved her with all of his being; even if she would never return it.

When at last the tears could come no more, and Star no longer had the energy to exert much more emotion, he shifted into a prone position, leaning his body weight against Nova whom had sat down on the ground behind him, stroking his head in order to help calm him down. Staring out across the plains with a wistful expression, Star laid there in silence with the pikachu, finally accepting that his friend had made her decision.

It wasn't after several lone minutes of comforting silence as Nova continued to stroke him, was Star able to speak. "So… what now? Do we just sit around idly and wait until The Reaper finally decides it's time, and comes to kill us? Is this the end?" the eevee asked, his tone lacking any sort of emotion outside that of one that showed resignation and fatigue.

"No… it can't be. Surely there's someone out there strong enough to take him down. There's no way this is how it all ends," she replied after a moment's hesitation, no longer stroking the quadruped's fur. Looking down the road towards the east once again, she was no longer looking at the portal, but of a land far away from here, across the ocean, where she imagined the pokemon who could save them all had to be.

"It just can't."

Little did the pikachu know though, was that she was correct though. Out there, living on a separate continent that was blissfully unaware of the destruction that was soon to spread all around them, was one individual whom was destined to put a stop to the marauding charizard's plans. An individual whom would've never guessed what fate had in store for them, for even fate itself would've never guessed it would be that pokemon that would end up saving the entire world. Unfortunately, Nova wouldn't be meeting that individual before experiencing much more pain and loss. For her, it would be a long, long, wait. One that would last for over two hundred harrowing and slow years.


	2. Chapter 1 - Bed Time Stories

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**Chapter 1 – Bed Time Stories**

"Hey Papa, can you tell us that story again? The one about the hollow… the hallow… the Hallowed One? You know, the eevee who has all of those kick butt powers and no one can beat?" a 5 year-old Iskander asked his father, causing him to stop on his way out of the bedroom.

"Well… I don't know," Alyosha began, drawing out the first word of his sentence, looking upwards in thought, trying to seem unsure about the request. "Haven't I told you that story enough times already? I don't see what's so special about my kind. We're really not all that great."

"Of course you are!" Iskander retorted angrily, offended by his father's mock humbleness. "Especially you. I bet you could take on a flock of zapdos with your eyes closed and your legs tied together if you wanted to!"

"How would that be possible when there's only one Zapdos, and it was last seen hundreds of years ago," his younger sister interjected, secretly agreeing with Iskander, but simply wanted to be a nuisance to him.

"How do you know there's only one zapdos, when you've never even seen one yourself!" the older eevee retorted.

The two siblings stood up and glared at each other, low growls emanating from their small forms.

"Settle down you two, there will be no fighting between family members in this household," Isana reprimanded her two kits sternly. "Now, let your father tell his story without any more interruptions."

Sticking their tongues out at each other, both eevee settled back down into their beds before turning their attention to their father. Chuckling at his kits, his sky-blue eyes lit up with merriment at their childlike behaviour, wishing he was still as young as they are, the espeon took a deep breath and began his tale.

"Once upon a time, our planet was inhabited by a species completely separate from pokemon called humans. They were different from us in that they had no elemental powers. They couldn't breathe fire like an arcanine, nor lift boulders twice their size like a machoke. They couldn't sore through the sky like a pidgeot nor dig underground like an onix. Their bodies were weak and fragile compared to that of a pokemon's, but what they lacked in brawn, they made up for in brain. The humans came up with all sorts of different inventions and technology to help compensate for this weakness, and it was through their need to better themselves, that they came to rule the world."

"Or so they could've. Humans had no desire to conquer us pokemon, and instead chose to work along side us, becoming our friends, allies, and sometimes even family members. Through the combination of human creativity, and the raw power of pokemon, the two races intermingled and became one driving force that sought to make the world a happy place for all to enjoy. For centuries, humans and pokemon lived together happily in harmony."

"But just as every pokemon is different from each other, so too are humans. There were humans who saw pokemon as nothing more than tools; as an inferior race, and so they began to capture our kind in order to use them for their own selfish purposes. Running a crime syndicate to make money, attempting to alter nature and reshape the Earth itself, creating new worlds for their own selfish desire, enslaving us all in order to conquer everyone else, and even creating machines meant to wipe out our entire race. These are only some of the goals that the humans abused our relationship in order to try and achieve."

"They were always stopped however through the combined efforts of both human and pokemon alike. Through the joint efforts of everyone, was the planet's balance able to be preserved. And so peace on our planet was able to be safegaurded. Under the surface of everything however, more and more pokemon were becoming restless."

"Some pokemon could no longer bring themselves to trust the humans. Every time one group would be stopped, another would rise in their place. Who knew when one of these organizations would finally succeed? The pokemon couldn't just sit around and wait for the humans to finally succeed in their plans. So they formed an organization whose goal was to see the destruction of the human race. And they had the perfect way of doing so."

"The last major crime organization that appeared bent on harming pokekind had the goal of wiping out our entire race, planning on doing so through a special machine, originally built prior thousands of years. What the genocidal pokemon wanted to do was change the effects of the machine so that instead of killing all pokemon, it would instead kill all humans."

"So work immediately began on the machine. Doing so in secret and creating it deep underground where no one from the outside world would know about it, the organization spent months collecting the parts and putting them together. The project however was kept a secret from even most of its members. The only ones who knew of the machine's construction were the highest ranking members of the group, and the select few who were working on actually creating the machine."

"The machine was eventually complete, and was only discovered by the legendaries after Yveltal, whom shared a distaste for the humans, but more importantly held a grudge against his sister Xerneas, tricked the legendary into helping power the machine. For the rest of the world, they didn't have long to register their incoming reckoning as the pokemon extremist group revealed their machine to the world mere minutes before setting it off, ending billions of lives."

"All signs of human civilization were wiped off the face of the planet. The unthinkable had been done, and everyone was thrown into turmoil. Some pokemon had lost friends, others; travelling companions. To many, they had lost the most important people in their lives."

"The legendaries, appalled by the actions of their kind could only attempt to calm down the tumultuous masses of pokemon as chaos and disorder began to ensue everywhere. Pokemon turned on pokemon, and many died to the madness and grief of their brethren."

"It took decades to restore order, but when they finally had, pokemon began to band together and put aside their previous differences. A new age of civilization had begun, one built and created by pokemon much like that of humans. At first they were only small settlements of two or three homes. Those settlements began to expand and grew into villages. Those villages grew into towns, and those towns grew into large cities. Arceus had watched over the whole thing himself, and pleased with how pokemon had been able to construct a society and civilization of their own, saw it fit that the legendaries take their leave since it was their fault for both interfering and not interfering that the world was the way it was now. Before He and the rest of the legendaries left for their own plane of existence, they divided up Evolia into eight different kingdoms, and transformed the lands to best suit the different elements that they would represent. The reasoning behind this was tied to the tournament that He decided to host."

"This tournament was not just any ordinary tournament, though. The Hallowed Tournament was created to test the body, mind and spirit of its contestants. Should whoever came out on top be worthy in Arceus' eyes, then they would not only receive unique abilities, but increased strength, power, and speed. There was only one catch to entering the tournament; entry was restricted to eevees and eons and eevees and eons alone. This wasn't done because Arceus favoured our species over the rest, but because of our unique DNA structure that allows us to master not just one or two elements, but nine of them. Arceus wanted to create a pokemon that would be powerful enough to retain order over the land, but also wanted to do so without bending the laws of nature that had been set in place too far."

"Arceus named his chosen the 'Hallowed One'; a pokemon who not only had enhanced strength, speed and stamina, but could also change into any eight evolutions that eevees are capable of undergoing. The tournament did not grant them the ability to shape shift outright, instead they must to prove themselves worthy of such powers further by passing the tests of all eight kingdoms. It was up to each monarch, also known as the most powerful or most respected pokemon in the kingdom, to come up with and conduct the test. Should the Hallowed One pass their test, they would be given the Alpha Shard, a mystical artefact created by Arceus that would grant them the evolutionary form affiliated with the element of the Shard."

"With these great powers, the Hallowed One also has the great responsibility of retaining order and peace throughout all of Evolia and its eight kingdoms. Should something happen to them, then the whole process shall be undergone once more, and Arceus shall choose a new champion to take their place."

"And so that is that," Alyosha said at last, having finished retelling his story. "So if something were to happen to me, Arceus would then choose another mon to replace me. While it's not guaranteed that an eevee or eon will be picked if they win the Hallowed Tournament, it still greatly increases their chances of being picked. Even then, many enter just for the sake of bettering themselves."

Noticing his son's admiring gaze, Alyosha couldn't help but feel a rare sense of pride in having his kit look at him that way. That feeling was quickly wiped away when he noticed his daughter Hypatia sound asleep, no doubt having lost interest in the story long ago.

"I can't believe you were chosen by Arceus, the god of all pokemon to be the world's strongest pokemon," Iskander exclaimed excitedly, quickly lowering his voice and ears in shame though when he heard his younger sister begin to whimper in her sleep from him being overly vocal. "I bet if I entered that tournament, I could win with ease. Then I could take over for you someday beating up all the bad pokemon, and saving the day!"

This earned another laugh from his father as the young eevee sat on his haunches. Lifting his front paws up, he began to jab at the air, imagining himself beating up some imaginary foe. It was only when he noticed the yellow florescent light shining on the wooden walls in front of him did he remember that his mother was also in the room.

"Hey Mama, what do you think about me entering the-"he began but stopped when he noticed the look on his mother's face.

Isana had locked her eyes onto Alyosha's, staring at him with unblinking eyes, not moving a single muscle with a small frown set upon her face. The espeon had now noticed the umbreon staring at him, frowning with a remorseful look on his face as he quickly figured what was bothering her.

"Mama, are you okay?" Isana was startled by her son's sudden inquiry. When she looked down, she saw her son looking up at her worriedly. He began to rub his head against the sleek midnight black fur on her chest.

Giving her son a rare, yet sad smile, she replied to him "I'm fine sweety, don't you worry about me." Licking the back of his head, the mother umbreon began to soothe her son's nerves, causing him to snuggle into her warm body.

Alyosha could feel the happiness radiating off the mother and son as they shared a rare and touching moment. The fact remained however that it was still late, and both him and his mate needed their rest.

"I'm sorry to take your pillow away from you son, but your mother and I really need to get our sleep," the espeon yawned, giving Iskander a sleepy grin. "And so do you. How do you expect to take over my job someday if you don't get your sleep?"

Giving a yawn of his own then nodding, Iskander let go of his mother and walked over to his father and hugged his leg before slowly walking over to his bed and laying down. Resting his head on his paws with his eyes still partially open, the eevee seemed to have fallen into deep thought. The two eons not noticing this began to make their way out of the room, when suddenly, lifting his head up and looking at Isana, Iskander finally spoke his mind.

"Mama, can I sleep with you and Papa tonight in your bed?"

Isana stopped to look over her shoulder at her son. "Why would you want to do that, is your bedding not comfortable enough?" Isana questioned.

"It's not that. It's just… I'm scared of being alone. I don't want you and Papa to leave me," Iskander responded, looking down in embarrassment.

"But that is part of growing up Iskander. Learning to live by yourself is something you have to learn to do," the umbreon turned around fully and began to walk towards the distressed eevee. "And the first step towards doing so is learning to sleep in your own bed."

"Besides," Isana began, placing one of her front paws on Iskander's head gently, "no matter what I say, no matter what I do, no matter where I am, whether it's in this life or the next, I will always love you no matter what, and I'll never have truly left you, because I will always be with you in your heart."

Hearing those words, Iskander couldn't help but leap into his mother again despite his exhaustion, latching himself onto her leg. Giving him that same sad smile as before, she gently pried her son off of her leg and placed him back down on his bed. Giving one last big yawn, Iskander laid his head down, this time closing his eyes completely as he prepared to drift off to sleep.

"Good night Iskander," Isana spoke softly, making her way out of their children's bedroom with Alyosha.

"Good night Mama… good night Papa… I love you." Iskander mumbled to himself quietly before he finally drifted off to sleep.

Morning had arrived to take over its part of the day cycle, and with it brought its companion the sun. Only too happy to share its presence with every living being in Psyonia, it shone its rays through the window of Iskander's makeshift bedroom window, causing the teenage eevee to slowly blink his amber eyes open. Giving a large yawn, Iskander uncurled himself from his sleeping position, and shifted onto his back instead, staring up at the wooden boards that served as the roof over his head. He remained in this position, sullenly staring upwards, revisiting what he had just dreamed about. He could no longer remember the exact events of what had happened, only that it was of a time where he didn't feel so lifeless and unmotivated.

The happy mood that was present in his dream, had translated into a foul one now that he was conscious. Turning his head over to the right, he spotted the other bed in the room, vacant, its owner not having used it in at least nine years. His cheerless mood deepening further, he arrived at the conclusion that it wouldn't do him any good to continue to lay here idly. Getting up, the eevee made his way out of the room, deciding the first thing he should do is get something to eat. Walking through the living area, he couldn't help but pause at his parent's doorway, considering to go in and look but figured he shouldn't as this was the type of thing he was trying to keep himself from doing.

Stepping into the kitchen, he took a moment to survey the area and decide what he wanted to eat. Along the wall in front of him were three separate cupboards used to sort all of the different berries that his house held. He knew that he had at least nine different types to choose from and while normally having so many berries seemed like a waste of money since there was no way he could eat them all in time before they would rot and decompose, the cupboards were enchanted to preserve the foods inside them indefinitely. They were a gift from the queen of Mystania to his father for helping her kingdom with some sort of problem he had long forgotten about.

The sudden thought and reminder of his father suddenly caused Iskander to narrow his eyes and grit his teeth together. Thoughts of how he would never see him again began to churn around in a tumultous rage inside his mind, and he could feel his suppressed outrage towards the one who was the cause of his death to beat furiously on his mental dam like a raging tempest, begging him to unleash his anger upon someone or something.

Doing just that, the irate eevee began to charge as much energy as he could into his tail, causing the normally soft and fluffy appendage to become as hard as iron. Swinging it around in a circle around him, he swung his tail as hard as he could into the leg of the table behind him, causing it to explode into a mass of wooden splinters, and making the table crashed into the ground having now been made lopsided. The troubled eevee was breathing heavily now from his emotional outburst. Yearning for escape away from the place that held so many terrible memories to him, he made his way past the piece of cloth draped over what served as the main doorway to his abode. Leaving the house, Iskander continued his search for food in town to instead.

It was early in the morning, so not many shops and stores were open, but this also meant that not many residents were out to bother him either. Evolia as a continent was known for having put its eevee and eon population above the rest of its citizens. Psyonia being even more notorious than most for taking this fact a step further, Iskander's species as a whole were more or less treated as royalty. They were after all chosen by the Alpha pokemon himself to take his place as the ruler of the entire world what with being charged as the Hallowed One, a pokemon considered a demi-god to its mortal bretheren. Where normally pokemon were not allowed access to certain places in cities unless they had proven themselves as an important figure in the community, eevees and eons alike were born to this right. They were treated with utmost respect regardless of their profession, could treat anyone however they liked, and could get away with whatever they wanted. This was a widely accepted way for the eevees and eons to live, and so often there was never an issue with this pompous attitude.

Patras was not like the rest of Psyonia though. Located in the north-eastern reaches of the psychic kingdom and far away from the influences of the capital city Mentali, Patras was a backwater town and was unlike any of its other neighbouring cities. Its citizens were pokemon who could not stand the tyranical and snobby attitude of their self-entitled overlords, and hated any and all of eonkind. This meant that the pokemon of Patras were not exactly too friendly towards Iskander, and he had experienced more than a few dangerous encounters with its residents in the past, sometimes having even gotten into fights with other pokemon his age in the past, but after realizing that he was much more powerful and skilled in combat than they were, they had long since given up antagonizing him through confrontation, but it didn't mean they had let him live his life in the small town peacefully, still choosing to take a more passive aggressive approach.

While the small town was not poor, it wasn't rich either and so the ones who ran the stores that Iskander would visit treated him with nothing more than the cold indifference necessary towards running their business. To the eevee, this was sufficient for his needs as he sought no companionship and only did what was necessary to make it through the day. Walking along the main road that lead from his house to the main square, Iskander shifted his glance left and right at all of the different buildings as he passed by, not really looking for anything in particular to eat, only something that would provide him enough sustenance for the day. Arriving in the central plaza, he came to an intersection of five dirt roads leading in different directions. Iskander glanced at the one leading to the north-west, deciding to see if Maarit's café was open. The furret's café did not have fixed hours, instead the owner chose to open and close depending on how she felt that day, so it was impossible to tell whether she would have the place open or not.

Maarit was an early riser though, so she was much more likely to be open early in the morning than she would be late in the afternoon. Making his way to her place, Iskander was thankful for running into no one, and even more thankful when he noticed that the door to the place was open, signalling to all that the normal-type was open for business. Perhaps today wouldn't be so bad after all.

Stepping onto the door mat, a glass orb overhead emitted a "ding" sound that announced his arrival; yet another creation of the Mystanians. Iskander made his way to the counter at the back of the café, and jumped onto one of the stools, waiting to be served. Behind the counter was another door way that lead to the kitchen of the café and through it came the owner of the place, a bright smile radiating from her face. Upon seeing whose order she was taking, her energetic aura changed instantly changed to that of a drab, emotionless one as she stared expectantly at Iskander, waiting for him to make his order. Without wasting a second to take note of the furret's change in behaviour, the eevee spoke up.

"One Bluk and Razz smoothie," he said, his facial expression mirroring that of the furret's.

"Do you have the berries yourself?" Maarit asked.

"No, I don't," Iskander responded after a moment of hesitation, cursing himself mentally for forgetting to bring them with him amidst his emotional outburst earlier.

"That will cost you an extra 300 poke then," she said before turning back around to make his drink.

The furret returned no less than a minute later with his order placed in a wooden bowl designed for quadrupeds like Iskander. Dipping his head down to take a small drink of the berry smoothie, Iskander began to contemplate what he should do for the rest of the day. Eating would only take up so much time, and there was no way he was going back to his home if it meant sulking. Even such a brief thought of the subject caused his temper to rise, and he had to dip his head back down to take another drink of his fruity concoction to help soothe his temper. Sighing, he continued to brood over his decision making for a while longer.

He must've lost track of time as when his mind came back into focus with the outside world, he noticed that other pokemon had begun to enter the café as well. Not wanting to be around them, especially considering how volatile his emotions were being today, he lifted the bowl up to his mouth using his two front paws and quickly gulped down the rest of its contents. Iskander waved his paw at the furret to grab her attention when she came out to greet her other customers so he could pay his tab. He couldn't help but notice how polite and happy her demeanor was towards everyone else in the room, and the way it paled in comparison to the one she used with him. It frustrated him greatly when he had never done anything wrong to her, and she only treated him the way he was because of what he was.

The eevee had very little time to rest his mind on such troubling observations. Looking over at him, her facial expression changed like a flick of a light switch and she walked over to him. She didn't even allow him a word before she spoke, wanting to be rid of him as soon as possible.

"Your drink comes to a total cost of 400 poke," she spoke with an impatient tone, putting her paw in front of her expectantly, waiting for her payment.

Iskander reached to his left side to grab the money from the leather pouch on his side. He immediately froze when he realized that he had left it at home. A sense of dread began to well up inside of him as he looked back up slowly at the furret still waiting, who was now cocking an eyebrow at him in an inquisitive manner.

"I… forgot my money back at my house. If you'd wait just five minutes, I can go get the money and-" but he never got to finish his proposal as he was suddenly cut off.

"Oh? You "forgot" your money at home did you?" the café owner began, her voice taking on an accusing tone which garnered the attention of the other patrons in the café. "You know what I think actually happened? I think you planned this from the start. You left it at home on purpose so that you could leave to go get it but never come back so that you wouldn't have to pay for your drink."

"What? How does that make sense when-" but again the eevee was cut off before he could make any sort of rebuttal.

"Don't think I don't know how your kind work. You think you're above the law. You think you can just get away with stealing from those less fortunate than you. You believe that you're better than us just because of what you are," the furret continued to accuse the eevee.

"Fortunate? You think I'm fortunate after I lost my-" Iskander began to respond, the deep burning anger from earlier returning with force.

"Yes, yes. We all know what happened. It's been nine years and you're still moping about it," the furret replied with an exasperated tone. "Everyone is tired of you using that as an excuse to try and get everyone to pity you. If I were you, I would just get over it already."

Iskander was stunned by the normal-type's words. His jaw felt like it dropped down through the floor, as he tried to form words in response, but none came. This pokemon whom he had never caused harm to in his entire life, was trying to put words in his mouth, and frame him for actions he had never commited nor had ever planned on. Then if that wasn't enough, she had even gone the extra mile to metaphorically kick him in the gut by telling him to get over the fact his father had been killed. Murdered. Murdered by…

Sighing, the furret cut Iskander's train of thought off as she looked at him with a bored expression on her face. "Look, if you really feel that you're above paying me for my services and only came here to feel bad for yourself, fine. But you are no longer welcome here," she spoke in a deadpan voice. "Now get out of my café."

Still unable to fully comprehend what was happening, Iskander managed to slowly turn around and hop off the stool, doing so in a trance-like state. As he made his way out, a primeape had gotten up and purposely stuck his foot out, causing Iskander to trip and fall face-first into the ground. Snapping out of his stupor, Iskander jumped immediately into a battle-stance and glared at the fighting-type, completely livid now.

"Why you little piece of-" only to be cut off once again not by another pokemon, but himself this time as he noticed the rest of the café patrons beginning to get out of their seats, waiting to be given the slightest reason to jump him.

Disgusted by everyone's behaviour, the eevee settled for spitting at the monkey's feet before making his way outside.

Turning to his left, Iskander began to angrily storm his way down the road, not caring where his paws took him. He had barely been awake for a little over an hour, and already he wished the day was over. There was no possible way things could get worse no matter where he went. When he came across an intersection, he swung to his left yet again, deciding to get away from the hustle and bustle of the town before more pokemon came out to see if they could drive his day any further into the ground.

Angrily mumbling under his breath and kicking any stones in his path, Iskander continued down the dirt path leading to the suburbs of Patras not even bothering to look up to see where he was going. This was probably not a good idea in foresight, knowing how crummy his luck had been today thus far, but the incensed eevee didn't care. He just didn't care. He was beginning to reach the point though where he was simply repeating the same angry verses to himself and upon realizing this, let out a deep breath before he looked up. Iskander was surprised to find himself at the lake located at the south-western part of the town, quite possibly the one place that could help soothe his nerves. Taking a long look at the body of water, he was relieved to find that just like most parts of Patras at this time of day, the lake front was vacant of any other patrons. Large, bountiful oak trees with their late spring green leaves littered the grassland area surrounding the lake, and willows dotted the boundaries of the lake. Iskander spotted a particularily healthy looking one. Trotting over to it, he flopped down and rested himself on his stomach.

Iskander took a long, deep whiff of the clean lake air before letting it out slowly, releasing some of the pent up tension in his body. Finally feeling at ease from discovering some solace, away from the horrific memories that were attached to his home, from the unrighteous townsfolk who vehemently despised his kind, and tucked under the cool shade of a willow away from any other troubles that could violate his privacy, he rested his head onto his front paws. The eevee's eyes began to droop and gained a faraway quality to them. A small smile made its way onto his features as he let his mind wander free from the worries of his conscience. Slowly, they drooped down even further until they shut all together. The last thing he remembered was the wind whistling a sweet lullaby upon his ears before he finally submitted himself to the realm of dreams without meaning to do so.

"_Get away from me you freaks_!"

At the sound of the distressed voice, Iskander jumped awake and his battle senses kicked in immediately. Shooting a quick glance around him, Iskander saw nothing within a few feet of him. He took a double take of his surroundings, and upon doing so located the source of the commotion. On the other side of the lake, a group of pokemon were formed in a circle around another individual. He couldn't see who was in the middle of it, but he could see who the pokemon were that surrounded the lonesome mon.

_Oh great, of course they would find someone else to bother after I put them in their place,_ Iskander thought exasperatedly. Stretching himself out briefly, he prepared to dash his way to the rescue of this unknown pokemon when suddenly he stopped himself.

_What am I doing? Have I learned nothing from today? If it was any day but today, I wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to go help this mon out, but if I go in there, something disastrous is just begging to happen. Besides, these group of morons couldn't beat a blind spearow in a thunder storm. I'm sure they'll be fine without my help._

This prospect was challenged though when he saw the group of bullies begin to tighten their circle around their victim. A bead of sweat began to form on the short chestnut coloured fur that covered Iskander's face as the indecisiveness of his actions created a battle within the walls of his mind. His front paws began to shift forward as the war to go help this stranger began to con him into taking action.

"Take one step closer, and I'll break single bone in each of your bodies!" the voice shouted again. Now that he was awake and focused, he could distinctly tell it was feminine. He knew that he had made his decision at this point, and it was only a matter of time before he finally gave in.

_Damn it! I can't believe I'm actually getting myself involved in this whole thing. There must be something wrong with me today. Or perhaps it's my fate that I land myself into as much trouble as I possibly can today._

Having made up his mind finally, Iskander bunched up the muscles in his legs and pushed off the ground in a dash as he began to make his way around the lake towards all of the commotion. He was a very fast runner from all the training he had personally put himself through, on top of having ran missions at the Assistant's Guild in Patras, it was not long before he had made his way around the body water, only having enough time for one more fleeting thought before he confronted his foes.

_I just hope this decision doesn't ultimately get me killed in the end._


	3. Chapter 2 - Convergence of Two Fates

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**Chapter 2 – Convergence of Two Fates**

This whole situation seemed ludicrous Rosa thought to herself as she angrily glared at the pokemon around her. Not being a native citizen of Psyonia, this was the first time she had spent any time inside the kingdom, but it didn't mean she was ignorant to their customs and ways of life. She had been sure to read up on all the different places of Evolia before she set out on her journey so as to make sure the whole thing went smoothly. In her books that she had read through, she found that the Psyonians held eevees and eons in such esteem that the only other kingdom to rival their dedication were the Obsidians, thus surpassing her kingdom's own devotion. To find that they held her kind in even higher regard than her people did was astounding to her, and given her background, she was more than looking forward to being pampered and looked up to upon traveling through the psychic kingdom.

When she decided to make a pass through the small town that had no marking on her map, she had failed to notice the angry glares that she was receiving from the native dwellers, and failed to notice that she was being followed when she made herself to the south-western reaches of the town to take a rest by the lake she had chanced upon. Because she had remained ignorant to the true nature of her predicament, she made the poor decision of stopping to rest, feeling almost as though she were back in Tidania. It was when she had fully decided to settle down did she realize the folly in her actions, and noticed her assailants as they had begun to surround her. To Rosa, it was insulting enough as it was that these random group of brats were rude enough to cramp her personal space without her consent, but then had the audacity to threaten her for some reason unbeknownst to her.

It didn't matter what their reason was, their behaviour was inexcusable. She could get answers later however once she put these runts in their place as the circle was beginning to shrink, the female eevee poised herself into a battle pose, and began to size up her opponents and take into account who she was dealing with. There was six opponents: a phanpy, bidoof, machop, nidoran, ledyba, and litleo. While she couldn't accurately judge just how powerful they all were, she could tell the phanpy was the leader of the group as he was the one to make the first move towards her slowly, the bidoof being the last showed that he was most likely the weakest link. She would have to keep this in mind when the fight broke out.

"If you leave now, then perhaps I'll be nice enough to not notify your town guard of your incredulous behaviour. That is, after you answer a few of my questions," Rosa began to threaten, only being half serious about the statement as she tried to bide for more time.

This earned a snicker from the phanpy as he continued his slow advance towards his victim. "You hear that you guys? If we leave the _eevee_ alone," he said, putting emphasis on Rosa's species' name, "she won't go run crying to the other mon and get us in lots and lots of trouble!"

"I guess we have no choice but to comply with her demands Aries. She is after all one of Arceus' chosen." The ledyba grinned, but it was clear she was mocking Rosa as she made no movement to stop her advancement.

"I have an idea. Since it seems our humble visitor is new around here, why don't we give her the ol' Patrasan welcome that we give to only our most illustrious of visitors?" the nidoran offered.

"I think that's a great idea," the machop laughed. "In fact, why don't I be the first to do so!" the machop responded as he broke away from his group's formation, charging at Rosa with his fist raised.

Doing an hundred and eighty degree turn, Rosa had no time to charge up an attack of her own and could only brace herself for the oncoming attack that was sure to leave a mark given her type disadvantage. However, just as the machop's attack was about to connect, a blur rammed itself into her opponent and sent him flying into the lake with an audible _sploosh_. Surprised by the sudden interference, Rosa could only stare at the new arrival until she was snapped out of her stupor by the sound of his voice.

"Welcome to Patras," he said without looking at her, his eyes glued to that of the annoyed phanpy's.

It seemed to Rosa that these pokemon knew this eevee quite well as they had stopped moving altogether and diverted their attention away from her to him. Their expressions were all similar except for that of the phanpy who looked like someone had injected his breakfast with cough syrup. For the rest however, their body postures had stiffened, and their expressions had changed from that of surefire confidence, to uncertain fear, as it became unclear as to who would win this fight now despite it being five-on-two. _Hmph, figures I was right about most of them being spineless cowards. They still have over twice the numbers and yet they're afraid._

"What do you think you're doing here, freak?" Aries demanded, directing his insult at Rosa's savior.

"I should be asking you the same question. What could this random traveler have done to warrant you picking a fight with her?" the eevee frowned, returning the question. "Actually, knowing you guys she probably did nothing since you don't seem to need a reason to pick on others."

At this, the blue elephant began to laugh causing his opponent to frown even further, and Rosa's confusion to deepen.

"That's a great one. Pretending we don't have a reason for putting the four-legged freak in her place," Aries replied with mirth.

Surprised by the phanpy's offhand remark, Rosa took a few steps forward, hackles raised as she began making her own growling sounds. "Why you little... I'll show you who the four-legged freak is," she shot back as she began to charge up a Shadow Ball, but stopped when the male eevee turned to gaze into her blue eyes with his striking amber ones. They continued to stare for only about five seconds; long enough for her to get his message.

This was personal, and the eevee wished to get through this alone.

Recognizing that, she backed away from him but remained standing in case any of the others decided to take a cheap shot at her.

Convinced that she got the message, the male eevee returned his attention to the phanpy. "We've ran through this whole scenario who knows how many times now," he began, motioning with his head all of the other pokemon, "and only now has the irony of this whole thing dawned upon me."

"Oh? And what irony might that be?" the phanpy sneered at him, snorting air out of his trunk.

"It's the whole reason why you decided to pick a fight with this innocent pokemon. It's ironic because you're treating her the same way that you scold my kind for treating everyone else. It's humourous and down right pathetic really."

This statement earned an exchange of questioning glances from Aries' companions as they recognized the eevee had a point. Aries however was not so easily deterred in his goals however, and he began to paw at the ground as his temper began to rise, and his teeth became exposed as he lowered his head into an attack position.

"You think you're so clever huh? Let's see you talk smart when I grind your bones into dust!" Aries exclaimed as he lifted his head and then shouted, "Patras Pranksters! Attack!"

At the sound of the loud command, any apprehension that the others had before vanished in a second as they too began to charge into the middle of their circle towards the two eevee. Backing away through the open space in the formation still left by the absent machop, Rosa placed herself at a safe distance as she watched the ensuing chaos from the sideline, trusting that this stranger knew what he was getting himself into.

There was no doubt that he did as he give a rather large smirk before doing a double back flipping over all five of his opponents, causing them to smash into each other. Due to the fact that she was flying rather than running on the ground, the impact of running into everyone had less of an effect on the ledyba so she was the first to remove herself from the pile of bodies and charge the still smiling eevee.

"You're mine!" she exclaimed as she let loose a fury of punches, but failed to land a single one on the fox pokemon whom dodged every single strike.

Shocked that none of her punches landed, the eevee punished this lapse in concentration and swung his iron-hard tail in the bug-type's face, sending her flying towards her nidoran teammate into an opposing tree. Not long after he sent the two females tumbling away, he rolled to the right as three small embers were fired at him. They hit the trunk of the oak tree behind him but sizzled out upon impact, hardly leaving even a small scorch mark behind. Rosa took note of this as did the male as he began to charge quickly forward towards the litleo who looked like she was less than confident in her attacks now. Not knowing what else to do, she fired more poorly made Embers, but they had no effect on the charging quadruped as he rammed his skull into hers and sent the fire typing flying a few feet before she landed on the ground, unconscious.

"Rolling phanpy! Two o'clock!" Rosa shouted in warning to her fellow eevee, causing him to turn just in time to see the leader of the group rolling at him like a wheel. Rosa was astounded when instead of dodging the attack like he had with the others, he took the same approach as he did the second ember attack and lifted his front paws in front him as he tried to stop the spinning Aries in his tracks.

His face contorting with effort, the eevee dug his paws into the ground in order to stop himself from being pushed back. It seemed that the confident battler had made a mistake as it seemed as though the attack was too powerful for him until the eevee's slow push backwards began to slow, until it gradually came to a complete halt, the phanpy's attack still continued as the elephant's body spun. A smirk returning to his face again, the eevee used his opponent's momentum against him and shifted it with his body as he tossed him back the way he came into a tree, causing a loud _crack_ sound as the phanpy's back made contact with the dense wood. With that, the brutish elephant joined his companion in a dreamless slumber.

By now, the ledyba and the blue-coloured nidoran had regained their senses and decided to attack together, charging the eevee from the same-direction so that they couldn't run into each other this time. They knew something was wrong when he didn't move from his that he threw their leader away from. Their suspicions were proven correct as they seemed to make contact with nothing but thin air, charging right through the fake image of the eevee, both pokemon running headlong into a tree he had been standing behind, rendering themselves unconscious. Looking up, Rosa found the real eevee balanced upon one of the lower branches, smiling down at the two fallen opponents.

With a large gasp, the machop finally resurfaced from the lake he had been knocked into. His arms clutching onto the shore and his head resting upon it, his breath came out as deep, wheezing gasps, as he tried desperately to catch his breath.

"Stupid water… Stupid lake… Stupid eevee… I swear when I get my hands on him, I'm going to karate shop him in the windpipe, and then I'll-" stopping his furious rant, the machop's face went pale as his angry rant was cut short when he looked up into the eyes of said eevee, whom stood right before him giving him a look of pure child-like innocence.

"Lovely day to go out for a swim, wouldn't you say?" the eevee inquired, giving the tired machop a jovial smile.

The machop could only stare at him with wide-eyed shock at his sudden appearance, words unable to make their way out of his mouth.

The eevee gave a frown of pity and looked at the machop with sympathy, before he began to smile again. "Wanna go for another?" he asked as he began to charge up a ball of dark energy.

"No! No! No! No! N- ahhhhh!" the poor machop shouted before he was pushed to the middle of the lake with an explosion.

Turning his gaze towards his last opponent, a cowering zigzagoon, the eevee gave a small "Boo!" causing the tiny racoon pokemon to let out a _yip_ before making his way back towards town, running in a zigzag pattern. Letting out a sigh of relief, the amber-eyed eevee relaxed his facial expression and looked over at Rosa, making his way over to her. He held a smile on his face, a genuine one this time, and his amber eyes maintained contact with hers. Looking into them, she suddenly felt uncomfortable as she unknowingly began to blush and diverted her gaze towards the lush grass in front of her.

Rosa became agitated by her own reaction to the male's approach, and whether or not she understood why, she knew it was dumb and childish. It was like she had turned into one of those stupid and helpless princesses from the many storybooks she read through. They always melted beneath the stunning and commanding gaze of the "brave" and "powerful" knight whom had saved the "poor" and "defenseless" young maiden from the evil dragon. She knew now that she could've handled those six pests on her own. She knew that the whole thing was personal between the eevee and the group and not a single part of what he had done was for her sake. He didn't fight them to protect her. He fought them for his own pride. She was not helpless, and she was not weak. She made sure that was not an issue anymore. So why did she suddenly feel like a jumbled mess? She didn't care to find out, or better yet, she was too scared to find out. Either way, when she looked up, she was met with the confused and wondering gaze of the pokemon in question.

"Are you okay? You look as though that patch of grass just shot a pretty mean insult at your mother," he inquired.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," she visibly winced, looking up. Rosa returned her gaze to the ground again, but this time for a different reason altogether.

Noticing the unnecessary joke did more harm than good as he accidentally hit a nerve, the amber-eyed eevee decided to try and turn the conversation towards a different topic. "I'm sorry your first encounter with this town was such a poor one, although it comes as no surprise."

Rosa lifted her head again as she remembered her initial question that she had for the group of bullies that had ganged up on her. "I forgot to ask what the whole deal was back there! What was up with those guys, and why were they so quick to pick a fight with me?"

"I'm afraid you'd get pretty similar treatment out of almost everyone here in Patras," he replied with a grim tone. "There's some stuff you should know. Just know that they were the ones at fault here. But let's not talk here, my house is just east of here in the southern suburbs of the town. We can talk there where we'll be much more secluded, and don't have to worry about any more surprises."

Granting the stranger at least the benefit of the doubt after he "saved" her from those pests, Rosa nodded, and decided to take him up on the offer. "Hold on, let me just grab my stuff. I tossed it over here after those goons started to make a move on me," she said, trotting over to a leather bag that was laying beside one of the willow trees. "I hope nothing fell out of it…" she mumbled to herself as she gave it a quick look through. Having accounted for everything as being there, she sat down and slipped each forearm through the straps one at a time before standing back up and making her way back to the male eevee's side. Gesturing with her head, she commanded, "Lead the way."

The walk to Iskander's house was a quiet and wordless one as both pokemon were deep in thought. The stranger whom he had saved was deep in thought, so Iskander took this as a chance to study her so as to maybe figure out what her story was and why anyone would ever come and pass through a place like this, let alone an eevee at that. He guessed it came as no surprise that someone of his own species would be ignorant to the culture and ideals of the pokemon who lived here, after all there was no reason really for others to know about Patras. The town was secluded from the rest of the kingdom as not many roads led through it, and news neither entered nor exited as its citizens had no interest in the outside world, only in what happened around them as they shunned Evolian culture.

So why was this eevee here? It was clear that she had had no intentions of doing nothing more than pass through here judging by the fact that she was intercepted outside of town, and the way she remained ignorant towards why she was attacked proved she knew nothing about the town. She had a rather strange bag with her that looked like it was not originally made for someone of her stature, rather it was redesigned to do so; something that was not native to Psyonia so she was not from this kingdom. She seemed to be somewhat prideful of her species, so she came from somewhere where she is highly valued, so she must've been from either Obsidia or Tidania as she was clearly not of Psyonian descent. So she was a traveler, but why was she traveling? Why… why… why…

No matter, he could ask her himself soon enough as they had arrived at his place. "Hey, sorry to snap you out of your daydreams, but we're here," he said, grabbing his traveling companion's attention away thoughts of her own. Looking up in surprise, she saw him holding open the cloth door for her. Nodding her head in thanks, she entered his home, with Iskander following close behind her. Leading the blue-eyed eevee into the kitchen, he decided to attend to her personal needs before they got down to playing twenty questions.

"I have a lot of questions for you, and I have no doubt that you have the same for me, judging by your far-away look you had on your way here," Iskander said, walking over to one of the cupboards. "But I'm guessing between traveling all this way, and having a run-in with our local welcoming committee," he said sarcastically, "I'm sure you're as famished as me."

Nodding her head half-heartedly, more eager to find out more about what happened back at the lake, the female eevee walked over to inspect the contents of the wooden storage unit with Iskander. "I've got all sorts of berries in here, not much else other than that though. I usually handle all of my non-berry needs in town, or at a friend's place. So what would you like? Cheri? Chesto? Pecha? Rawst?" he began, listing off some of the most common berry types. "I think there's some Sitrus and Lum berries and some other strange stuff in the other cupboards if you're looking for something more exotic."

"Anything will do, I'm not feeling particularly picky at the moment," she replied, setting her bag down, but pausing while doing so when she noticed the broken table.

Sensing that she had suddenly stopped moving, Iskander turned around after he had grabbed a random assortment of berries. He saw the eevee staring at his recent piece of work. "I guess you could say I got up off the wrong side of the bed this morning," he said dryly.

The female simply nodded, not wanting to get sidetracked from her goal. Both quadrupeds made their way into the living room, with Iskander following behind carrying their berries in a scarf that he kept in the kitchen for the purpose of moving food around. Sitting down on both piles of hay placed in front of the living room fireplace, Iskander gently placed the berries down on the ground between the two of them. Grabbing an Oran berry out of the pile, the female traveler began to eat while she watched Iskander with mild interest as he turned on his fireplace by clapping his front paws together.

"Gift my father received from his travels. The flames appear and disappear just by clapping. Was installed by a-"

"Mystanian. The logs have been enchanted with a magical dust that ignites with a simple set command, and while it's not the same kind of fire that can be produced by a fire-type, it still has similar qualities such as providing light and heat," the female interrupted. "I've done all sorts of studying of the other kingdoms. My parents wanted me to know this kind of stuff because of… reasons. Before they were murdered anyway."

Iskander was caught off guard by the eevee's sudden revealing of facts, along with her knowledge of his father's enchanted fireplace. Deciding to not push his luck after having learned so much so quickly, he decided to keep the conversation away from facts that might upset his new companion. After all, he understood how parents could be a touchy and volatile subject to talk about…

"Judging by your interest in general knowledge and the rather strange bag you carry around with you, I'm guessing you're from Tidania?" Iskander asked, earning a nod from his new companion.

A thoughtful silence settled upon the two as they absent mindedly plucked a couple berries from the pile and began to eat. Iskander was organizing his thoughts as he pondered what he wanted to ask first based on what he had figured out thus far, when suddenly, he realized that he had skipped over the most obvious of questions, and hadn't even asked his guest what her name was. At this, he smacked himself in the face with his paw, earning a questioning look from the other eevee.

"I can't believe I could forget such an obvious thing. We don't even know each other's names!" he exclaimed with embarrassed humility. "My name is Iskander. What would yours happen to be?" he asked, bowing his head towards her in an apologetic manner.

The female eevee blinked in confusion, somewhat taken aback by his respectful gesture before she nervously replied, "Ma…Rosa. M-my name is Rosa. Th-there's no need to be apologetic over something as simple as forgetting to greet someone. I mean, you did just come out of a fight with five other pokemon not that long ago. So much has happened in such a short period of time, i-it's no surprise that you did. Besides, you're acting as though you're speaking to someone of importance. If anything, I should be the one treating you with such respect."

Rosa looked down as she stopped talking, seemingly uncomfortable with the whole conversation. Thinking it was due to him acting so strange himself, Iskander took it upon himself to help defuse the emotions that were beginning to climb in the room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," he said with a sigh. Grabbing another berry from the pile between them, he began to bat it back and forth between his front paws while he continued. "I suppose I've fallen out of touch with talking to a mon who doesn't hate my guts just because of what I am. It really is nice to have someone else besides my best friend whom I can talk to without getting the death glare."

"But enough about me. What gave you the crazy idea of walking through this dump of a place, and why are you traveling by yourself?" he asked, looking up at her.

"To be perfectly honest, according to my map, this town doesn't even exist. Coming up on this place, I was confused at first as I thought that maybe I had gotten my directions wrong and had ended up in Veria or Trikala," she said, referring to the towns located to the south-east and north-west respectively. "There was no town sign indicating the name of the place however, and on top of the whole place just giving off a weird vibe, I decided to try and make my way around the outskirts of town. As you found out though, that plan didn't end up going so well."

Chuckling slightly, Iskander couldn't help but be amused by the cartographer's intentional omitting of Patras' location on the map, no doubt hoping to dissuade others from visiting the rebellious group of pokemon.

"As for why I'm traveling…" Rosa began, pausing slightly before continuing, "My parents used to run a library back in Aquali. In Tidania, we have laws that prohibit any pokemon from running any sort of business until they become the age of sixteen. While my parents' death would normally mean that the library would have to be shut down, I'm fortunate enough that my parents had others who worked for them that are qualified enough to take control of the place until I am ready to do so."

Nodding in understanding, Iskander was secretly mystified by what exactly her parents did, as he had no idea what a "library" was, or a "law" for that matter. That was something he could figure out some other time however. Instead, he decided to cock his head to the side in confusion as he had another question he wanted to ask.

"That doesn't really explain what you're doing, traveling all the way out here by yourself though. I mean, you must not be sixteen yet if you're not running the 'library', as you call it, but you must be close. I mean, to me you do," he corrected himself awkwardly. "Surely going on such a long journey as traveling across the continent will cause you to miss your birthday. Wouldn't your superiors be displeased if you were to not be there?"

Suddenly taking interest in the shrinking pile of berries in front of her, Rosa began to mimic Iskander's action of playing with a berry, she became disconcerted by the question directed at her. It seemed that he was very good at asking the wrong questions. For a while it seemed as though Rosa wasn't going to answer at all, having become enticed with her personal distraction, until finally she looked up at him.

"I told my superiors that I wished to travel around the continent and learn more about it so that I could… gain a better understanding of it, hoping that it would help aid in running the place in some way," she replied, before heaving out a sigh. "The truth is I've already come to the age where I'm old enough to take over, but the whole idea of taking over such an important job seems… daunting and… impossible. Having watched my parents do it for so long, I never thought about what it'd be like for me to take over one day. I guess you could say that…"

"You're running away from the job. The idea of having to commit your life towards something so important that your parents have forced upon you is more than just daunting, it's terrifying. You're afraid of failure, and you can't help but compare yourself to them, to pokemon you've looked up to your entire life. You can't imagine ever being able to match their expertise, and you think by failing to match their success, you will be tarnishing everyone's memories of them. That, and you _know_ that everyone will be comparing you to them. So instead, you do whatever you can to bide your time until you inevitably have to do what must be done," he cut her off, finishing with an empathetic smile on his face. "I understand, I'm in the same exact situation as you."

"You-you are?" Rosa asked with surprise.

Nodding, Iskander shifted his gaze towards the glowing, enchanted, fireplace, losing himself to the dancing waves of orange, red and white. "Just like you, I lost my parents by unnatural means, along with my little sister. My father's job… was a rather demanding one. One that very few can do," Iskander spoke in a solemn voice. "About ten years ago, he revealed to my entire family with utter certainty that someday, it would be my responsibility to take over for him. He told us it was not his choice, but his boss' instead. This came as a shock to everyone, as this was the first time that two pokemon from the same family would have the… 'honour' of serving under 'Him'."

Perplexed by his bitter toner, Rosa couldn't help but wonder what was so bad about that. "But surely that would be a good thing right? Obviously your father's boss saw something in you that showed great promise. How could something like that turn into something bad?"

At her question, Iskander couldn't help but give a scornful and mocking laugh. His temper beginning to rise once again as the events that led up to the tragedy which would ruin his life began to play through his head. "My 'mother'," he began, spitting out his parent's title, "had other plans for what she wanted to do with me. She wanted to move the whole family to Obsidia where it would be easier to train me for my future obligations. My father heavily disagreed with the idea, saying that it was no place to raise a family, regardless of the circumstances. The subject turned into a large topic for debate, and things escalated until finally one day she… she…" he trailed off, gnashing his teeth together in anger until finally it became too much and he sent one of the last remaining berries flying into the fireplace, watching it burn to a crisp and turn into soot. When he continued, Rosa noticed his amber eyes had suddenly softened, and could now sense a deep feeling of sadness emanating from the male eevee.

"Now he's dead, and my mother and sister are gone who knows where. They could be in Hadesius for all I care," he finished.

His body began to shake as he fought back the urge to cry, scream in anger, and cause destruction to his home. All he could do was place his muzzle on the ground and cover his eyes with his paws as his body began to shake with effort, choosing to remain in that position until he could get a hold of his emotions once again. Iskander remained in this position when suddenly he felt a warm body place itself beside him, and someone place their neck over his in a comforting manner.

"I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry you had to be put through that," he heard Rosa speak as she continued to try and calm him down. The two eevees remained in the same position for several minutes; Rosa continuing to apologize and make Iskander feel better. Eventually the tears had stopped flowing from his eyes, and his restrained crying had been reduced to that of hiccups. When at last even those came to a stop, both laid there in silence as they took comfort in the other's presence. Minutes passed by, and still neither fox pokemon made any sort of movement. Silence continued to pervade the room, challenged only by the crackling of the fireplace until at last it was broken by the blue-eyed female.

"What is it that keeps you here then? Why do you insist on staying in a place plagued with memories that haunt you everyday, surrounded by pokemon who detest your very existence?" Rosa asked, lifting her neck off of Iskander's so that the tear-stricken eevee could lift his head. When she did though, he made no movement to do so, instead remaining in his forlorn state of staring into space.

"Iskander?" Rosa asked, thinking that perhaps he hadn't heard her.

After a few seconds of remaining still, he at last lifted his head up and directed his attention towards her, a lost expression on his face. "I don't know," he spoke at last. "Part of it is that I'm scared that if I leave here, my father's employer will come and force me to finally follow in my father's footsteps. The other part… I just don't know," he finished.

At this, Rosa looked down at her paws in thought for a moment before looking back up again, smiling at Iskander as she came up with an idea. "Well, the way I see things, you seem to be against the idea of me traveling all by my lonesome and would rather I had some sort of travel companion, as well as it seems that sticking around this trash heap of a town isn't doing you much good," she stated, wrinkling her nose in disgust at mention of Patras. "And I think it's about time we both sidle up and face our fears. I mean, it's like what you said. We're only biding our time, we'll be forced to face them one way or another anyway."

"Besides, I wouldn't mind having someone as strong and handsome as you act as my escort," she mentioned, winking at him.

"I'm not following what you're saying," Iskander replied, shaking his head in confusion. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that you come with me on my journey around Evolia! Come see what the world is like outside of your small shell that you've entrapped yourself within. You'll find that pokemon will treat you with a lot more respect, and life is actually much more enjoyable than you might think," she replied, subconsciously standing up and rubbing against him to help further convince him.

Weighing his options, Iskander could see that getting out of Patras for a while could do him a lot of good. The positives of leaving far outweighed those of staying, and he could always come back in the end after all. Smiling to himself, it was no difficult decision to make on what he wanted to do. Standing up, he nodded his head in affirmation.

"Okay! You're right, I think I'd be helping solve both of our dilemmas by coming with you," Iskander said, standing up and crossing his neck over Rosa's as a form of hugging. "Thank you Rosa, you have no idea how much better you've helped make me feel."

Backing away from him and returning the smile, Rosa nodded her head. "Don't mention it, what are friends for?" she asked rhetorically.

Iskander gave a short laugh but stopped when Rosa's words suddenly sunk in, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Wait a minute… did you just call me strong and handsome before?"

At that, the female eevee's eyes widened, and her muzzle had stopped half way open when she was about to respond, as she turned into a statue upon realizing that she had accidentally expressed her feelings towards Iskander. The blunt compliments, the wink, the rubbing of bodies, even laying down beside him in an effort to comfort him while he was crying was now suddenly coming off as extremely awkward and too forthcoming for her.

"W-w-what? I-I never s-said that! You-you must've heard me wrong, or imagined it! Y-y-yeah… i-imagined… ha ha ha ha…" she responded, laughing nervously.

"You definitely said that, you even winked at me to make sure the point got across," Iskander responded suspiciously.

Rosa couldn't think of a counterargument to that, as she knew she had been caught. She could feel her entire face begin to heat up and she began to sweat as she continued to stand there in embarrassed silence. When it became clear that Rosa was making no move to reply, Iskander let out a sigh.

"Look, it was just an honest question, I didn't mean to make you feel bad by asking," Iskander said, causing Rosa to let out a sigh of relief upon realizing she had somehow not been caught. Focusing his mind on the journey instead, and the idea of leaving Patras behind, he instantly became upbeat. "Okay, unfortunately a lot of my traveling supplies are kept at my grandparent's place, so we'll need to make a detour to their place to get my proper gear. They live up north of Tanta on the Blazidian coast. It's going to take us nearly a couple of weeks to get there if we travel up north to Trikala, then head west to Heraklion and go from there…" he trailed off, mumbling to himself. He headed into his room looking for his money bag, and traveling sac which was just large enough to hold the amount of supplies needed to make the trip.

Following after him into his room, Rosa saw Iskander looking into a large wooden chest set beside his bed. Standing on his hindlegs so that he was tall enough to reach in and look for his things, Rosa had to more than once dodge a flying projectile accidentally thrown at her as Iskander tossed out various objects, tools, and items, in his search for what he was looking for. With a shout of triumph, Iskander pulled his head out of the chest, dragging out of it with his teeth a satchel with two bags on it. It was just big enough for a pokemon his size, and when slipped on over him, the two leather bags came to rest on either side of his flank. Rosa couldn't help but screw up her face in apprehension. The bag was akin to that which was used by numel, rapidash, and other beasts of burden who were used for nothing more than transporting goods around. She was quick however to wipe the look off of her face when the male eevee turned around to look at her with a look of triumph.

"Now I just need to grab some berries, my Rampardos Scarf, and maybe some other types of food. I think there's still some meat left in the freezer that I could bring… no that would take too much room, and would be too heavy and annoying to carry," he thought out loud to himself. "I could still bring that weird hat with me to protect myself from the sun. It's really hot in Blazidia… Or maybe I could bring it for Rosa. She's used to the cool weather of Tidania. I should bring another item on top of that just in case…"

At that, he stopped talking altogether as another great idea hit him. Iskander's grin widened in size and his tail began to swish back in forth in excitement. The jovial and uplifting mood that the male eevee was exhibiting was making Rosa nervous as she had a bad feeling about what Iskander was about to suggest.

"W-what's the matter Iskander?" she asked nervously.

"We should get my best friend Galen to tag along with us! I'm sure he'd love to get away from that farm, since that's where he spends pretty much every waking hour of his life," Iskander responded with a smile.

"S-so, there'd be three of us…?"

"Yup!"

"So that would make you, me, and…"

"Galen!"

"Are-are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, he sure sounds like a busy pokemon and all…"

"Non-sense! Even if he declines, which he probably will…" Iskander said with annoyance, "I'll get him to come anyway! He needs the travel as much as I do, if not more."

"I-I think we're better off leaving your friend behind…" Rosa responded, trying desperately to keep the annoyance of having her plans altered unfavourably.

"Come on, follow me! I'll die before I let him turn down this offer of a lifetime," Iskander said as he dropped his satchel onto the ground. Not having heard Rosa's last suggestion amongst his excitement, he dashed into the kitchen and out of the house towards his friend's fields down the road.

"Oh joyous day, what a wonderful turn in events…" Rosa muttered under her breath sarcastically as she ran to catch up with her friend.


End file.
